Most Dutch health insurance policies include limits on payments, research shows

Three quarters of health insurance polices taken out by the Dutch only cover patients completely if they visit a healthcare practitioner who has a contract with the insurer, new figures show.

Just under 20% have opted to have complete freedom to decide where to get treatment and the rest have opted for a combination policy, according to research by care information platform Vektis.

This year, insurance companies had 58 different policies on offer and 67% of people were covered by a collective policy, often via their jobs, Vektis said. In addition, 84% of people have taken out top up policies to cover services not covered in the basic state-determined policy. These include items such as extra physiotherapy, homeopathy and dental treatment.

Just over half of patients spend less than the €385 compulsory excess on their health bills last year.

Of those who opted to increase the excess charge by €500 – which results in lower monthly premiums – just 8% ended up having to pay the first €885 of their medical bills themselves.